Cache's Europe

(Florence)

(Paris, France)

Dear Dr. Groft,

I'm hoping you have your computer with you! I'm Justin and Cache's mom, Rachel. If I were a good mom, I would have your cell phone number on me, as well as trained the boys not to loose theirs! They just called from a borrowed phone, and are stuck in Chicago until six in the morning. This will put their flight into the evening hours tomorrow your time (we hope). I have limited contact with them, but they are checking in and I can relay any message onto them that you need me to. If you need to get a hold of us for anything,( like say to assauge my fears ) you may email at this address, call, or fb.

Thank you VERY much,

Rachel,

We have been in contact with the boys. They have been instructed to get a cab as the public transport will be closed when they arrive. The cab will take them to this hotel and their keys will be waiting for them at the front desk along with instructions on when we are meeting for breakfast, my room number in case they need it, etc...

They should be fine.

We'll let you know tomorrow morning how they are doing.

Dr. Groft

(Their bed the first night)

hey mom and dad!

I stayed up two extra hours to type this so you should feel special. The phone ran out of minutes, so that's why i was cut off.

The coolest thing i've seen so far: Actually a fun, unexpected surprise was at Windsor and in one of the queen's room there was the bullet that killed lord Nelson. Pretty awesome. i love London!

Funniest thing i've heard: In London instead of saying "what time do you want woken up." they say "what time would you like to be knocked up." pretty funny.
I'm doing fine. And it's great! Thanks alot!!
-Cache

(Dani and Cache)

(Climbing the stairs to the bell tower of Notre Dame)

(Still climbing..)

(Cache said it was a long way up. Apparently Liz is beginning to wonder if she'll make it.)

(They made it. Cache is giving a pretty weak portrayal as the Hunch Back.)

Hey Family!
This postcard is mailed from the Vatican City! Awesome huh! Postcards are a lot harder to mail here. There's just not a lot of time. The Vatican Museums are AMAZING! The Sistine Chapel was too. It was one of the best things on the trip. We didn't get to go in St. Peters because the pope was having a meeting. And we didn't get to see the Raphael rooms. Major Bummer. - Cache

(When you sleep like this all night...

.... it's not surprising that you have to sleep like this all day.)

Hey Family!
Hopefully you're not too excited to get this postcard, that you don't even read it! (that's Jim Gaffigan). Paris was amazing. Tons of things to do in Paris too. When I picked up this postcard they didn't have one of the Eiffel Tower (what's up w/that??) But this Arch was fantastic. We saw it at sunset too. (Arc de Triomphe) - Cache



(Cache's epiphany written on the back of the 'cathedral of Florence' flyer)
"No matter how beautiful a painting/sculpture/building is, it doesn't beat scenery. Basically, Man made things will never come close to being as beautiful as God made things."

(Swiss Alps)

(An epiphany of Cache, written on the back of the 'Santa Croce Basilica' flyer)
"Michelangelo's Tomb - I feel at peace. He was a good guy. When reading (Irving Stone's) 'The Agony and the Ecstasy' I wondered if it was just for a story. Kind of to give us hope, but no. I think he was a guy who sought out his talent, improved and developed it to it's fullest, and completed what he was meant to do."

(Venice)


(Epiphanies written on a Versailles flyer)
"In Versailles they have great paintings, but there is a serious lack of religious paintings. Actually I don't see any except a few in some houses."


(Lion Monument to all the Swiss who died protecting Marie Antoinette)

"How could Napoleon keep trying to conquer when he saw what he was causing?"

(Napoleon's tomb)



hey family! i love you guys so much! happy fathers day dad! sorry its late. my last long email was just erased so crap. i dont have much time. so this is short sorry. its hard to communicate. very hard. to get a computer or phone is rare. sorry. i miss you guys. and love you. the coolest thing so far was the David. i spent an hour and a half looking at it. amazing. sorry its short. ill try again tomorrow

(Swimming in the Alps)


(Justin was a faithful post card writer, phoner, and emailer. He felt like he'd said enough by the time he got home. Cache, on the other hand, was pretty silent on the trip - but more than made up for it in his descriptions and presentations when he returned. I love the difference in the two.)

(Cache at The Globe Theatre)

(Epiphany written on a ticket to the museum)
"Michelangelo's David - I'm sitting here by the David statue, trying to force words to describe it. Words however, don't come. It's stunning, yet it took me awhile to come to the decision that it's different than other sculptures. It's inspiring. Although it's huge, strong, and powerful it doesn't crush your figure, making you feel small. Instead it brings you up, makes you feel powerful, just as David is. The thing that makes this David different than others is the message behind it. The message is not that he has conquered already, but that he has made the decision to conquer and he knows that he will conquer with God."


(Saint Mark's Square, Venice)

Hey Family!

I finally have some free time in the day. We're in Athens today, and let me tell you Athens is dirty and gross, and all there really is to do is the acropolis. We did that this morning. Its unbelievable. Oh and when your done reading this, go read Acts 17 because guess what! we've been there! Mars hill is right by the Acropolis and today we went up there and read the chapter as if Paul was actually preaching it to us.

I'm getting excited for the cruise. Especially because I'm starving and the cruise has an all you can eat buffet everyday! hurray! It's actually pretty pathetic because everyone on the trip looks forwards to the days they feed us for dinner. Also the breakfasts here suck. Usually all we get is some rolls with butter and if were lucky some corn flakes with warm milk. yum yum. It almost beats the dollar menu from MC Donald's every meal.

The people here are fun. The Barnett's are
here, they were the family from the Spanish block. They're fun. The kids are fun. The leaders are fun. Its just all around great.

Yesterday I typed the coolest thing I saw. So I'll do another funny thing

Well in Florence at the motel, we were at a park playing field games and some Germans started to play. The rest of the Germans that didn't play were off drinking and partying. Well after field games we were just sitting around talking to the Germans and then all of a sudden the drunk ones started running around us butt naked. luckily it was dark. But pretty dang hilarious! Especially because the adult supervisors were so stunned and didn't know what to do. Germans...

Dad- Are you back at home yet? Or is mom still alone?

Mom- I still need a gift for you, so any ideas? How's the Garden doing?
Jesse- there's this really cute girl on the trip that hopefully i get my first date with. wish me luck with that.

(Unfortunately that date didn't happen. Cache had to find consolation somewhere..)
(She didn't know what she was missing out on. Any guy that does his own laundry, well I'm just saying...)

Calder- When I get home, I need to show you some of Leonardo's machines, he made. They're pretty awesome.

Maddie- France was awesome Maddie. I thought about you looking at all the gardens and flowers. You would love it there!

Pal- The castles are wonderful here. And they're usually filled with all kinds of weapons and torture devices. They're cool. Can't wait to show you some of the pictures of them.

I love all you guys and miss you! Can't wait to share everything with you guys.

-Cache

(Rhodes)

(Temple at Delphi)

(Swimming in Santorini's Volcano. Cache is in there somewhere...)
(Red from the volcanic mud water)

(Thanks to Dani and Jen for all these pictures. Cache took over 1,000 pictures but only got a handful of himself or other people in them. He's more of a 'scenic' type guy.)

(Mykonos)

(Relaxation technique on Rhodes beach. Stone therapy.)

(I love these last two photos. I hope you remember every last bit of this trip, Cache. You worked hard for it, and I'm proud of you.)


(Message from Dr. Groft)
"Rachel. You should know that your boys were awesome. If I didn't tell you that before, I'm telling you now: I really enjoyed having them along."

(Istanbul, Turkey)